Sunday, June 10, 2007

All the news fit to blog

Okay, well, save for maybe tomorrow morning or afternoon, this will likely be the last one until July 2, 2007 unless I decide to blog sometime on the 25th or 26th.

This is completely embarrassing and I feel sorry for the staff, friends, and family of the late Senator Craig Thomas.

Maybe Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and his staff are just in denial. Or maybe they don't read the papers, thus missing the sad news that Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) died Monday, seven months after he was diagnosed with leukemia.

Whatever the case, Leavitt's office called Thomas's office late Thursday afternoon to request a meeting with the late senator.

Billy Donovan left Florida and then decided he made a mistake and came back to the SEC school. As a part of voiding his contract with the Orlando Magic, Donovan is unable to coach in the NBA for five seasons.

"During the recently concluded Florida legislative session, the Florida Senate and House of Representatives passed legislation to divest the Florida pension fund of financial sectors and businesses that deal with the governments of Iran and the Sudan," Gov. Charlie Crist (R.) said in his letter from Israel, wher he is leading a trade mission.

"The legislation, unanimously passed in both chambers, is a statement to the Iranian and Sudanese governments that Florida will not idly stand by and allow businesses that operate in Iran and the Sudan to foster terror. I look forward to signing this legislation upon my return to Florida. I respectfully encourage you to join me by introducing similar legislation to divest your state’s financial resources of companies or sectors doing business with the governments of Iran and the Sudan. I look forward to discussing this matter with you during the National Governors Association summer meeting in Traverse City, Michigan."

No matter which side you are on, this is a good read following the discovery of King Herod's tomb.

Eric Crawford's article from last week dealing with coaches leaving schools and the effects that it has on recruits is spot-on.

Paragraph 19 of that document: "I understand I have signed this NLI with the institution and not for a particular sport or individual. If the coach leaves the institution or the sports program, I remain bound by the provisions of this NLI. I understand it is not uncommon for a coach to leave his or her coaching position."

It sounds good. "Sign with the school and not the coach." We are talking about education here.

Except Gillispie and everybody else in the profession will tell you that "recruiting is about relationships." And they're not talking about that special bond between a player and his English professor.

Sign with the school and not the coach? Why, then, do coaches get contract bonuses for signing highly rated recruiting classes? In fact, why are coaches doing the recruiting at all? If this is truly about picking a school and a program and not the coach, why don't the admissions staffers take over the recruiting?

Josh Pastner will not be an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky.

Any plans that I would have had to go study abroad in England are definitely not in the cards anymore. Currently, Jews are divided over the British academia boycott threat. The ADL has some great flyers.

On the more combative side are figures like Harvard University Professor Alan Dershowitz, who reportedly is advocating for legislation that would "devastate and bankrupt" British universities that refuse to do business with their Israeli counterparts.

On the other side are groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, which for now prefers to keep the controversy in the rhetorical realm by publishing a number of ads in major international newspapers branding the proposed boycott an act of anti-Semitism.[...]

In Israel, the UCU decision was greeted harshly. Knesset member Otniel Schneller introduced a bill Monday that would slap British imports with a label reading, "This country is involved in an anti-Israel boycott."

Israel's airport union reportedly was considering refusing to unload British exports. And there were reports of canceling the Tel Aviv premiere of the British musical "Mamma Mia!"

Elizabeth Goldhirsh, a director of her family's foundation supporting cancer research, said the board of directors of the Connecticut-based Goldhirsh Foundation decided not to open its grant process to British researchers, a move that had been under consideration. Instead, Goldhirsh said they would open their grants to Israeli researchers.

"I think there needs to be a message sent that there are consequences to singling out and demonizing Israel, and doing so above all other countries in the world," Goldhirsh told JTA.

Others contemplated softer responses. The Jewish Funders Network, of which the Goldhirsh Foundation is a member, already has collected $200,000 to support exchanges with Israeli academics in the United States and Canada.

Peter Willner, executive vice president of the American Friends of Hebrew University, the American fund-raising arm of the Jerusalem institution, told JTA his organization opposes boycotts in principle and would confine its response to issuing a news release and raising awareness in the academic community.

"The only way to stop all of this is to have the right people stand up and say we're not going to stand for this," Willner said. "I think boycotts are an illegitimate tool, and especially when used against the State of Israel."

Similar efforts to isolate Israel have taken root among trade unions in Canada, South Africa and Ireland. In the United States, sporadic efforts to have universities divest from Israel have been unsuccessful.

Only in Britain has the boycott effort been endorsed by unions of university teachers and journalists -- both groups, critics are quick to point out, that profess fidelity to ideals of impartiality and dispassion.

"It really does puzzle me," said Professor Malcolm Grant, president of University College London and head of the Russell Group, a coalition of Britain's 20 largest research universities.

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Some info:Though a Kentucky Wildcats, St. Louis Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts fan, The Kentucky Democrat is currently based in Chicago. Solzman is a social commentator on sports, politics, and entertainment. Solzman currently writes a number of book reviews for The Kentucky Democrat in the categories of sports, humor, entertainment, politics, American history, and select fiction and science-fiction.

If you would like for Solzman to review a book, please feel free to get in touch with her. Kentucky Wildcats: 2012 National Champions St. Louis Cardinals: 2011 World Series Champions! Boston Celtics: 2008 World Champions! Indianapolis Colts: 2007 Super Bowl Champions
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